Cork farmer calls for 'matchmaking service' linking local food-growing enthusiasts to farmland

'We have in the city loads of fantastic people who would love to grow food but they can’t.'

A matchmaking service linking food-growing enthusiasts with farmers is needed to make it easier to grow local produce.

A meeting of farmers, restaurant owners and others interested in local food was held on Monday under the auspices of the Cork Food Policy Council.

The group is developing Cork City’s first Sustainable and Healthy Food Policy, a year-long project gathering feedback from more than 400 people and groups.

Former dairy farmer John Murphy is co-founder of Our Farm at Bushy Park in East Cork, a community farming project that sees people pay to receive boxes of chemical-free produce.

“This year, we have 29 households so far,” he said, adding members also work on the farm. 

“It’s been really successful. We have people from all sorts of backgrounds and they’re very much involved in creating a community on the farm.” 

However, access to land is challenging and Mr Murphy described how just one of eight farms near him “has an identified successor who’s actually going to farm”. 

Creative solutions were needed, he said. 

“I would like to see a system put in place where people who are interested in mixed farming and growing food for the domestic market are in a position where they can get access to land,” he said.

I think there needs to be a sort of matchmaking service for this. It needs to be profitable. And farming as a career needs to be able to provide a lifestyle and income.

Aishling Moore, chef at seafood restaurant Goldie, raised similar concerns about access to wild fish for future generations.

“Since covid, the boats have been reducing,” she said. 

“I worry about that, I wonder whether Goldie will still be a seafood restaurant in 10 years.”

Ideas from farmers and business people will feed into the overall policy, according to Professor Janas Harrington, chairperson of the Cork Food Policy Council.

“How can we support growers to access land? asked Ms Harrington. 

"We have in the city loads of fantastic people who would love to grow food but they can’t.” 

Referring to calls for a matchmaking service, she said: “Is it something we could help support or facilitate? It possibly is.” 

She expects the final policy document, when published, to encourage solutions like this.

She also spoke of growing concern at the lack of vegetable shops or smaller supermarkets in socially-deprived areas.

There are significant parts of the city where people just can’t access healthy, local food shops.

“There’s more density of fast food shops than actual supermarkets where you can do your weekly shop, affordably,” she said.

The project has held talks with Bus Éireann about better links between housing estates and shopping areas.

“Fixing it [lack of fresh food access] doesn’t just belong to one group. It doesn’t sit only in health, it doesn’t sit in planning or transport — it’s all of those,” she said.

Healthy Cities coordinator Denise Cahill warned some parts of Cork have so many fast-food shops they are becoming ‘food deserts’, where affordable healthy food is difficult to access.